About us

We are a small team of volunteers who help organise the Arts festival in Stevenage.

Stevenage Festival has been taking place since 1994 (click here to view a pdf of the 1994 programme) and provides a showcase for all the exciting talent that we have right here on our doorsteps in the Stevenage area. It takes place every two years and involves something like two thousand local performers and artists of all descriptions.

The core of the Festival is a series of performances in our very own Gordon Craig Theatre and we also have a vibrant fringe of smaller events taking place around the town. Lots of our performances feature young people taking their first steps in an activity that they love - please come along and support them. Who knows, some of them may go on to great things - and you saw them here first. Whether you are into fine art, poetry, photography, theatre, dance, books or music, from classical concerts to Rock in the Park, there's something in the Festival for you.

We also support, via our advertising for the festival, the fringe events - not directly organised by the Festival but occuring around the time giving those events an additional publicity boost. This has often included events at the library or museum or meetings of local societies and groups.

Artistic and cultural activity is vital for wellbeing and for community building - we look forward to playing our part in maintaining and enhancing these activities for the people in our town.

Stevenage Festival Organisation

Festivals like this take a long time to plan which is why, on the whole, we run on a two year cycle.

We held a general meeting to discuss the 2025 and future Festivals at the Gordon Craig Theatre (in the Lewis Silkin Room, which is on the upper floor) on Friday 10 November 2023. This starts us on the planning road.